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Post by elliott on Dec 4, 2017 23:12:28 GMT -5
Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai vs Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada (2/3 Falls - AJW DreamRush - 11/26/92)
Its Dream Rush. What the hell can you say? The first fall of this would be a top 100 contender by itself. I think this is one of two matches that has a chance to break through what is sure to be a Flair/Steamboat & Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi consensus at the top of the overall final list. I'm not quite as high on this as a lot of people, but it is still a top 50 lock for me on a bad day. Mayumi Ozaki is the best.
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Post by Cap on Dec 5, 2017 8:14:01 GMT -5
Seconded
This is such an intense match. I just love it. I think it sort of speaks for itself as maybe the peak of the go go go style of Joshi, but it doesn't lack psychology and nuance. This one speaks for itself. I am not sure where it ends up on my list, but I'd be surprised if it didn't make the cut fairly comfortably.
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Post by jetlag on Jan 6, 2018 5:22:57 GMT -5
3rd. I'm not crazy about this, but it's a must watch as far as women's wrestling goes and probably Ozaki's biggest match or best case for all time great match ever. Full review from PWO:
This' a good match. Watching this again after so many years and having watched quite a bit of joshi from this time period, I understand what's going here isn't exactly mindblowing. The three things special things going on here are as follows:
- the length
- the interpromotional flair
- Yamada and Kansai upping the stiffness x10000 and kicking the life out of everything that got in their way
And even the last thing isn't that unusual, as Kansai always worked like that. Other than that, they constantly go by the same go hard->rest pattern and occasionally throw in a sequence to mix it up. Lots of shit that is sloppy or blown and not a ton of selling, but they keep it going which is what counts. People have praised Ozaki's heel work, and it is good, but knowing her a little better now, she probably wasn't thinking too much about it herself. It was pretty much just another night for her.
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Post by stunninggrover on Apr 11, 2018 23:56:18 GMT -5
1992-11-26 Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada vs. Mayumi Ozaki & Dynamite Kansai [WWWA World Tag Team Championship] (AJW Dream Rush @ Kawasaki Shi Taiikukan in Kawasaki, Japan)
The main event of the AJW Dream Rush show, which was the first big event of the inter-promotional era of 1990s joshi puroresu. AJW vs. JWP. 2/3 falls match. This is a classic tag team match from the classic era of joshi puroresu. There's a big chance this will be in my top 100 GME.
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Post by microstatistics on May 2, 2018 1:36:36 GMT -5
As of right now I think this is the best joshi match ever. Everything great about pro wrestling encapsulated in about 40 minutes. The non-decisive finish also sets up the rematch perfectly. Top 5 contender.
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Post by KB8 on Sept 29, 2020 6:28:34 GMT -5
Short version:
Really good stuff and absolutely a contender, even if I don't see myself voting for it at any point. Enjoyed it more this time than ever before. Interpromotional wrestling is the very best wrestling.
TL;DR version:
I figured I'd like this more now than ever before. I've obviously talked a bunch lately about rhythm and pacing and transitions in joshi, and it sort of feels like the last few weeks have built up to me watching it through fully-fledged joshi eyes. If I started with this I probably would've been apathetic to it at best and DISGUSTED by it at worst. I mean it's not like I'd be expecting MX/RNRs, but still, this isn't the type of tag match I typically want to watch. Either way I thought it was really good and sure enough the most I've ever enjoyed it. If we're being honest, New Japan tags of the era weren't structurally too dissimilar. They had a fair amount of transitions and they were more likely to have a handful of smaller heat segments than one or two longer ones. The main difference of course was the pace at which they did everything. This pretty much never stopped, but I didn't think it was overbearing. Even if momentum shifted sort of abruptly at points and some of the selling was a bit spotty, the big moments resonated well and the build overall was exceptional. It probably helped knowing the backstory a bit more this time as well, so those big moments did resonate. Toyota and Yamada had been on a bit of a bad run leading up to this and Toyota was the one who'd been eating the pinfalls, so when she does it again at the end of the first fall you're wondering if they - and she in particular - can bounce back. Ozaki and Kansai are the JWP flag-bearers, but outside of that common ground they spent more time during their careers trying to kill each other than teaming. It made their performance as a team feel pretty special because for most of this they were the more functional unit. They also played to their setting and heeled it up, with a bit of subtlety at first but by the end they were full on about it. Ozaki stomping on Toyota's hand as she reached for the ropes to break the figure-four was probably my favourite moment of her entire career. Kansai was the buzzsaw you wanted her to be and the exchanges with Yamada were routinely awesome. There was one point as well where Ozaki had Toyota in a camel clutch and Kansai just strolled in and booted her in the throat. For all the shit I've given them in the past, I thought both Ozaki and Kansai were really good in this. Yamada was as well and Toyota was at least fine. The match and especially the third fall was paced in a way that I was worried Toyota might end up being too much, but it never really happened. She also took a couple maniac neck bumps and it made Kansai's powerbomb look absolutely lethal. By the end I was ready for it to be over and I suppose that's never a brilliant sign, but on the whole I can get on board with this being a great match. If nothing else it's probably must-watch for the style.
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Post by Cap on Sept 29, 2020 12:52:11 GMT -5
Awesome review. This is one I watched in the homestretch and still loved, but felt like it could slip. I also didn't feel strongly enough about it to overreact so it is really more something for me to think about down the road. I prefer the 4/93 match, but I think you nailed it. This is must watch stuff for the style. Its absolutely brutal, exhausting work. I also think its not a joshi match that I can just turn on any time. I need to sort of have joshi-brain turned on.
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Post by KB8 on Sept 29, 2020 15:04:42 GMT -5
I liked the 4/93 match when I last watched it way back in 2011 and I'll watch both that and their third in the trilogy (which I haven't actually seen before) soon. I was still actually surprised how much I liked this one this time around, so I'm gonna ride the wave until I get fed up and go back to my comfort zone of watching Battlarts or whatever.
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Post by mvz on Jun 22, 2021 4:55:11 GMT -5
This performances in this match impressed me and they gelled into an overall great match.
Ozaki has such great charisma and I’ve been enthralled in the bits that I have seen but she was on another level here. Her tactics with the hand kicking and cross arm breakers seemed so infuriating to the crowd but she was simply brilliant. I have liked Kansai in most of what I have seen and she played the great dominant force, it she also showed some vulnerability and it was smart booking to have her on the wrong end of the second fall. That was the kind of thoughtfulness that elevates this to a higher plane.
Yamaha was game to fight with Kansai, taking a beating but also having moments to shine. I don’t have the fatigue with Toyota that many of you have but the flaws are easy to see once you hear about them. They were held in check to an extent here, plus I just tried to accept that this is who she is.
Thanks to all those who added context in their comments, they were helpful and added to my appreciation. This will land in my top 100.
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Post by Cap on Sept 29, 2021 6:37:39 GMT -5
This is a match I thought about having drop off my list, but I think it is such a forceful performance on the whole that it just sticks with me. I'm going to have to make some tough choices this year, but I don't think this is getting cut.
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Post by makaiclub on May 19, 2022 19:15:56 GMT -5
This was so, so good. The first fall was incredible. The FIP work by Toyota was top notch in this fall, although it’d waned in the 3rd fall and the double team work by Ozaki and Kansai was immensely good. The Camel Clutch setting up Kansai’s brutal kicks to the throat was sadistically awesome. Kansai produced magic whenever she was involved. Especially when matched up with Yamada. The 2nd fall was short but still good and got a big pop. The 3rd fall is where the match falls short of being a classic though. The length of the fall wasn’t exactly a problem but it felt long. Toyota was again the FIP but her work wasn’t as compelling as the 1st fall. But it wasn’t a terrible fall by any means. Ozaki showed some great character work on the apron when she stamped on Toyota’s outreaching hand near the ropes. Awesome match. ****1/4
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Post by TheDutifulWebmaster on May 30, 2023 6:34:47 GMT -5
I'm blown away by how good this match is . The best traditional tag match I've seen. 5-stars, and probably one of the top-10 matches I've seen.
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Post by puropotsy on Jun 18, 2023 19:44:37 GMT -5
Goddamn if this isn’t as great as anything I’ve ever seen. I’ve watched if before and loved it but did so even more this time. Even watching it next to all the GOAT candidates I’ve been watching lately it stands out. The structure of the three falls is great and the pace throughout is incredible. It maybe slowed down for a minute or two while Yamada was working underneath in the third fall but a little southern tag style didn’t hurt this one bit. And then when Toyota got the hot tag she got destroyed by Kansai which ruled. Going into the final stretch I couldn’t remember who won so was on the edge of my seat (a lie really, I’m horizontal on the sofa). A perfect match that’s now my working # 1, the second time I’ve done that in a few days and might not last long with some of the 1993 stuff coming up.
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